Hezbollah on High Alert, Lebanon Asks US to Urge Restraint from Israel

A view shows southern Lebanese villages in the background as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon July 28, 2024. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
A view shows southern Lebanese villages in the background as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon July 28, 2024. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
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Hezbollah on High Alert, Lebanon Asks US to Urge Restraint from Israel

A view shows southern Lebanese villages in the background as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon July 28, 2024. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
A view shows southern Lebanese villages in the background as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon July 28, 2024. REUTERS/Aziz Taher

Hezbollah was on high alert on Sunday, two security sources told Reuters, as tensions spiraled following a deadly attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that Israel blamed on the Lebanese armed group.

Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack. The security sources said Hezbollah had preemptively cleared out some key sites in both Lebanon's south and the eastern Bekaa Valley in the event of a possible attack by Israel.

The Lebanese government has asked the United States to urge restraint from Israel, Lebanon's foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Reuters on Sunday.

Bou Habib said the US had asked the Lebanese government to pass on a message to Hezbollah to show restraint as well. Israel has vowed swift retaliation after a rocket from Lebanon struck a soccer field in the Golan Heights’ village of Majdal Shams, killing 12 children and teens in what the military said was the deadliest attack on civilians since Oct. 7.

Overnight, the Israeli military said it struck a number of targets inside Lebanon, though the intensity of the strikes was similar to months of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.



UK Fears Escalation after Attack on Golan Heights

Israeli officials respond after rockets were launched across Lebanon’s border with Israel which, according to Israel’s ambulance services critically injured multiple people at a soccer pitch in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, July 27 2024. REUTERS/Gil Eliyahu Purchase Licensing Rights
Israeli officials respond after rockets were launched across Lebanon’s border with Israel which, according to Israel’s ambulance services critically injured multiple people at a soccer pitch in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, July 27 2024. REUTERS/Gil Eliyahu Purchase Licensing Rights
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UK Fears Escalation after Attack on Golan Heights

Israeli officials respond after rockets were launched across Lebanon’s border with Israel which, according to Israel’s ambulance services critically injured multiple people at a soccer pitch in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, July 27 2024. REUTERS/Gil Eliyahu Purchase Licensing Rights
Israeli officials respond after rockets were launched across Lebanon’s border with Israel which, according to Israel’s ambulance services critically injured multiple people at a soccer pitch in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, July 27 2024. REUTERS/Gil Eliyahu Purchase Licensing Rights

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy condemned a rocket strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights which killed 12 children and teenagers and said he was concerned it would spark further violence.

"The UK condemns the strike in Golan Heights that has tragically claimed at least 12 lives," Lammy said in a statement on the social media platform X, Reuters reported.

"We are deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation and destabilization. We have been clear Hezbollah must cease their attacks," he added.

The Lebanese Hezbollah has denied any responsibility for the attack. Israel has dismissed the denials and vowed to hit Hezbollah hard.